LA GUERRE D'UN BLEU.

By François Denoeu'38h. Aire-sur-la-Lys (Pas-de-Calais):Librairie Jean Mordacq, 1954. (Availablethrough the Dartmouth Bookstore.) 307 pp.$1.75.

This novel recounts the experiences during the campaign of 1918 of a young French officer who was in charge of a section of machine gunners belonging to the First Zouaves of the 48th Division. Hence its title, "A Rookie's War." The hero of the book is the same young normalien, Euloge Allard, whose school adventures were described in Professor Denoeu's previous novel, L'Amouren bouton (Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, January, 1951, p. 6). His experiences provide a lively and interesting narrative, colloquial without too great a number of slang terms and accurate without being too technical; and for the convenient understanding of such military terms and slang as are used, Professor Denoeu has provided a convenient glossary. All historical details regarding the sequence of events and the topography of the campaign were carefully checked by Professor Denoeu, who also drew heavily upon the letters that he wrote to his mother at the time, so that this book is really more than a roman. It is an eye-witness account.

Although the book is autobiographical in character, it is modest and objective in tone. As a matter of fact, in recognition of his military services in two wars, Professor Denoeu has been made a chevalier in the Legion of Honor. Yet, as we read this book, it is only from the unfolding of the narrative itself, and not from anything that the author explicitly draws attention to, that we come to realize that the events described in La Guerre d'unbleu are the recollections not only of a skilful author but also of a courageous man.